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Technique

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and the Barbell on the floor in front of you.
  2. Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width with palms facing toward you.
  3. Keep your back straight, chest up, and engage your core.
  4. Initiate the lift by driving through your legs, pulling the bar up while keeping it close to your body.
  5. As the bar reaches hip height, explosively extend your hips and shrug your shoulders to propel the bar upwards.
  6. Drop slightly under the bar and catch it in the front rack position at shoulder height with elbows forward.
  7. Slightly bend your knees and engage your core.
  8. Drive forcefully through your legs while simultaneously pressing the bar overhead.
  9. Lock out your arms at the top, with the bar directly above your head.
  10. Lower the bar back to the front rack position in a controlled manner, then return to the floor or repeat.

Form tips

  • Use leg drive to initiate the press rather than relying solely on your shoulders.
  • Keep your elbows high when catching the bar in the front rack position.
  • Ensure a full lockout at the top without overextending your lower back.
  • Control the descent of the bar—don’t let it crash onto your shoulders.
Logging: Total weight used.

Muscles

Strength

Primary

  • Spine
  • Glutes
  • Hamstrings
  • Back
  • Serratus anterior
  • Shoulders
  • Triceps

Secondary

  • Hip adductors
  • Chest
  • Forearms
  • Neck
  • Spinalis thoracis
  • Longissimus thoracis
  • Iliocostalis
  • Gluteus maximus
  • Semitendinosus
  • Semimembranosus
  • Biceps femoris (long)
  • Upper trapezius
  • Levator scapulae
  • Lower trapezius
  • Serratus anterior
  • Anterior deltoid
  • Middle deltoid
  • Triceps brachii (long head)
  • Triceps brachii (medial head)
  • Triceps brachii (lateral head)

Equipment

Appears in

Other disciplines
Joint movements
trains stretches

Regressions

e0h3

Push press

Beginner
e0h6

Power clean

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w004

Power clean and jerk

Intermediate
w006

Power clean and press

Intermediate
w00b

One-arm clean and press

Intermediate
w00c

One-arm clean, squat and press

Intermediate
e0jw

Snatch

Intermediate
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